This work had for scope to critically analyze the application of penalty in Democratic States of Law in the light of the garantism theory of Luigi Ferrajoli. Within this context, it was opted to working with controversial issues of the Brazilian Criminal Code, involving the application of penalty, focusing on the legal circumstances of the subjective nature of Article 59 and recidivism. These vectors were analyzed through the prism of interpretation according to the Federal Constitution of 1988, which from this date, established in Brazil the Democratic State of Law, guaranteeing fundamental human rights. The result of this approach revealed that in the application of penalty there is no equivalence between theoretical foundation on which to base this model of State and the reality. Given this paradoxical situation, the judge assumes a relevant role for the construction of a criminal model consistent with the ideals guarantees of a punitive system.